Face it, the Cowboys peaked in 2021

[Cowboys5217]

There is one maybe two guys in the league who can do that. Both Mahomes and Allen also have excellent defenses and run games.

Doesn't matter what excuses you make, Dak is paid to be one of those guys. Anything less than that exposes Dak as a failure and the contract was the stupidest ever signed in team sports.

 

[fivetwos]

I dont know about peaked, but I would say the window of opportunity for Dallas to have a legitimate chance at a Superbowl closed last season.

From 2016-2019, we had a young Dak on rookie contract, prime Zeke, 3 all pro lineman. Our defense was the weakness those seasons

From 2021-2023, I believe this we will look back on as Daks prime, while Zeke wasn't prime, the combo of him and Pollard gave us a pretty good running game. Still had two all pros on the line, the oline was still easily top 10. Dan Quinn gave us the most respectable defenses we've had in a while. We led the league in turnovers while he was here.

Now this year, how can anyone look at this team and say that it's anywhere close to competing for a Superbowl?

Exactly right and great post.

This is my biggest reason for lack of hope moving ahead. Management does not at all understand the window under which to win thing…when you’ve got yourself a good roster, you will lose many of them before long…so you need to make a push to win at that point because it won’t last, and a down cycle is inevitable.

Instead they decided to leave themselves short on the field in thinking they could avoid that down cycle, which is unavoidable due to how the system is set up.

Leaving by gaping holes in the starting lineup while trying to win in order to save your pennies to sign guys years down the road will never add up.

 

[john van brocklin]

I dont know about peaked, but I would say the window of opportunity for Dallas to have a legitimate chance at a Superbowl closed last season.

From 2016-2019, we had a young Dak on rookie contract, prime Zeke, 3 all pro lineman. Our defense was the weakness those seasons

From 2021-2023, I believe this we will look back on as Daks prime, while Zeke wasn't prime, the combo of him and Pollard gave us a pretty good running game. Still had two all pros on the line, the oline was still easily top 10. Dan Quinn gave us the most respectable defenses we've had in a while. We led the league in turnovers while he was here.

Now this year, how can anyone look at this team and say that it's anywhere close to competing for a Superbowl?

Please don't use Superbowl and Cowboys in the same sentence.

 

[john van brocklin]

Exactly right and great post.

This is my biggest reason for lack of hope moving ahead. Management does not at all understand the window under which to win thing…when you’ve got yourself a good roster, you will lose many of them before long…so you need to make a push to win at that point because it won’t last, and a down cycle is inevitable.

Instead they decided to leave themselves short on the field in thinking they could avoid that down cycle, which is unavoidable due to how the system is set up.

Leaving by gaping holes in the starting lineup while trying to win in order to save your pennies to sign guys years down the road will never add up.

Its the whole staying relevant thing.
Only problem is, in avoiding being terrible you are never really great.
Just good to mediocre.